Large cooking kettles are used in food preparation establishments for preparing (heating) a wide variety of food substances. The kettles are too large to be manually manipulatable by an operator, so the kettles typically are mounted at a work station above a work surface for mechanical movement between an upright cooking position and a tilted pouring position. The large cooking kettles prepare viscous food substances, such as soup, stew or a variety of other food products which are poured from the kettle by tilting the kettle, when the food products are cooked. The large kettles also are used for cooking fluid mediums such as water in preparing pasta-type food products, and the water also is poured from the kettles. The kettles also are cleaned after use, and the washing water, itself, is poured from the kettles.
One of the problems inherent with the wide variety of pouring operations described above is the danger of the poured substances, which may be extremely hot, splashing onto an operator and causing severe burns, for instance. The viscous substances may be poured into containers at the work station, or cooking or cleaning water may be poured into containers at the work station for food draining or kettle cleaning purposes. Various approaches at providing safety guards for the operator have proven ineffective for a variety of reasons, including interference with normal manual functions of the operator and cluttering of the work station or work surface at which the functions are performed.
The present invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a unique splash guard at a work station, which does not interfere with an operator's work and actually forms a part of the work surface when not in use.